A group of dedicated Frank Hurt Secondary students spent a recent weekend volunteering their time to help end bullying.
The students completed the Beyond the Hurt Bullying and Harassment Prevention training program through the Red Cross RespectED program last December.
Since then, they have given workshops on bullying prevention to some of the younger students at the school.
As a follow-up initiative with the Red Cross RespectED program and Reel Youth, the students spent the weekend creating three different short films that show how bystanders can intervene in a bullying situation.
After a brief workshop on video camera techniques, the students began brainstorming ideas for their films. They then created a storyboard and began to put their ideas on film.
“We are all very passionate about this issue,” said student filmmaker Kiran Cheema. “And we hope that we can pass on that passion through these films.”
Studies have shown that if a bystander intervenes, bullying will stop within 10 seconds 57 per cent of the time.
The group will now be delivering similar workshops to seven other schools.
The finished projects will not only be available on YouTube and Reel Youth’s Facebook page, but they will also be entered into Reel Youth’s Film Festival and used by the Red Cross as an educational tool for RespectED’s Beyond the Hurt training.
